GENERAL NOTES. 167 
the box than the stones and the very liberal wrappings of news- 
paper, yet this box was swarming with a species of beetle. They 
were by hundreds, both in pupa and perfect state. Judging 
from their situation that these strangers were not likely to prove 
useful colonists, some were bottled, the rest burnt. Captain 
Broun, after examining some specimens gives their names as 
probably Dermestes vulpinus, Fabr. The Dermestide are noted 
pests. “The larve of this tribe devour dead bodies, skins, lea- 
ther, and almost any animal substance, and are exceedingly 
destructive to books and furniture.”—Tvreasury of Natural H1s- 
tory. ‘The larve in this case must have fed on the paper, and 
were probably in the egg state when the box was packed, but 
how they came to be in such numbers is rather puzzling. The 
publication of this note may induce any persons receiving such 
a consignment to take prompt measures of repression with the 
visitors. Some useful insects might come over in such a way, 
but the probability is that all such comers mean no good. 
ALEX. PURDIE. 
SEMIAPTEROUS LEPIDOPTERA—GYMNOBATHRA SARCOXAN- 
THA, Meyr.—There is one case of a semiapterous female with 
which Mr. Meyrick was not acquainted when he published his 
paper on the V. 7%. Cicophoride, namely the female of Gymuno- 
bathra sarcoxantha, Meyr. The wings of the male of this species 
are from 16 to [9 mm. in expanse and broad withal, while those 
of the female are from 13 to 16 mm. and narrow, and the bulky 
abdomen of the latter makes the difference seem greater. The 
wings of the female are so much reduced that the posterior and 
outer edges form one scarcely broken curve, nearly correspond- 
ing to the costal curve, and giving the wings a lanceolate out- 
line with a very acute apex. The hindwings are similarly re- 
duced, being even more acute than the forewings, and it is 
doubtful whether the female is at all capable of flight when dis- 
tended with eggs. There is one point of considerable interest 
when taken into account with the reduction of the wing. This 
species, if disturbed on any bush, at once drops to the ground, 
the female always and the male generally ; and the thought at 
once suggests itself that the semiapterous condition of the female 
may be a direct result of the disuse of the wings. It would be 
of interest to know whether in any other case, reduced wings 
have been found together with this peculiar habit of dropping to 
the ground when endangered. This species may be got abun- 
dantly among the plantations of Coniferze about the Dunedin 
Public Gardens, where it may be readily found in March by 
shaking the pines and collecting the moths that fall. 
ALEX. PURDIE. 
OROCRAMBUS, SP.—Among -my captures near the Mount 
Bonpland Glacier in February last, were four specimens of a 
